Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for their statement on the good work of the NWT Literacy Council.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment really works closely and relies on the good work of NGOs and community organizations to do a lot of this work. And so approximately $900,000 in funding is provided to the NWT Literacy Council to support adult, youth, and family literacy initiatives, and a lot of these programs include capacity building and developing family centered community-based programs. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, there's also the Community...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is a -- so this bleeds into Infrastructure as well. So the assets are actually owned and maintained by the Department of Infrastructure and then we work together on ensuring that they are cared for and the communication between education bodies and infrastructure and ECE is all a bit of a team approach to it. So we do have a list of schools across the territory and we do have -- and I know -- what does FCI stand for, sorry? Thank you. Facility condition index. This is the problem when you speak in acronyms all the time. Sometimes you forget what...

Mr. Chair, may I pass to the deputy minister? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, I've had the opportunity to go back and forth with the parent advisory committee on this one, and we did advise that we have located a couple of pots within the federal government that we're currently trying to follow up on to see if they're ones that we can tap into outside of this traditional capital funding process, to see if we can push this project along. And we'll be sure to continue to see what we can find and report back to the parent advisory committee. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, items within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for the education stream are certainly prioritized based on safety and accessibility. And when we live in a place with typically quite harsh winters, heat is of the essence and doesn't only keep the school warm and kids able to sit and learn, it also keeps water flowing. So definitely is an important one. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have indicated to the college that I am certainly keen to receive their list of priorities and also understand what it is that they need and what years that they do need them so that I can further community that as well to my colleagues. And for potentially further information, I'd be happy to share the floor with the deputy minister through yourself.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my left I have James Fulford who is the deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And to my right I have Terri-Lynn Locke-Setter who is the assistant deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we've learned from since -- as the assistant deputy minister informed the House, this process starts well in advance of us sitting here today and so there is quite a bit of lead time. And the school in Fort Providence has informed us that, in fact, they do not need the fencing that was previously identified. And so those dollars have actually -- and the Member, as well as yourself, Mr. Chair, will probably go back to your computers this evening and find an email from myself that was sent earlier today. But those dollars are looking to be reallocated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely. So, first of all, I think this is a good place to remind the House that the bulk of the dollars received from the federal government for Indigenous languages flow through the Department of Education, Culture and Employment right to Indigenous governments for language programming. ECE is also actively partnering with four education bodies across the territory to pilot the Indigenous languages instructor employment program. And the aim of this program is to recruit and develop Indigenous language instructors for the JK to 12 age group, and this is...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that project is projected to be completed within the 2026-2027 school year.